MF DOOM: Raps Greatest Comic Book Villain
The legendary MC and producer leaves behind a massive legacy as one of the most well respected underground artists
I had to have been about 14 years old when I first heard MF DOOM on the classic Madvillain track “ALL CAPS” and from then on I never listened to hip hop the same way again. The damage that track, that album by the untouchable duo of Madlib and DOOM, did to a young mans mind was unlike any life experience I had beforehand. It brought out such a beauty in hip hop that veterans had always described to me but I had not experienced myself, once I heard that track however I finally knew what they meant.
To put it simply, I was just a casual hip hop listener at that time, the great understanding had not come unto me yet. Once I heard the opening of “ALL CAPS” there was just no denying it anymore, I saw the beauty it had to offer. The album opened a lot of doors for me in the music world and I’m not alone in saying this, it’s no wonder the album as well as DOOM’s other works earned him the title “your favorite rappers favorite rapper.” It’s a rule in the world of music to follow his instructions of “Just remember ALL CAPS when you spell the man’s name.” I’ve followed that since the first day I heard them
MF DOOM was unlike any other rapper in the world, while that can sound like hyperbole in DOOM’s case it’s absolutely true. When he re-emerged into the scene after his lengthy absence in the demise of his former trio KMD he carried with him a confidence that was apparent in the craftsmanship of both his rhymes and his beats. He was the Metal Fingers on the board and he was the Metal Face when he rapped, establishing an identity for himself that ensured there was no one else like him in the game and no one else would ever be able to follow him. He may have been raps comic book villain but he was the most beloved character rap ever birthed.
MF DOOM’s career in hip hop started under a different name, to tell this story truly does sound like the backstory of an evil villain which he characterized himself as. Born Daniel Dumile the young British born New York raised MC started his career going by Zev Love X in the trio KMD consisting of himself, his brother Dingilizwe “DJ Subroc” Dumile and Onyx the Birthstone Kid.
The members of KMD came up in the golden age of hip hop in New York City as a graffiti and breakdance crew before they started rapping, releasing Mr. Hood in 1991 to minimal chart success. As the group was set to release their follow up album in 1993 DJ Subroc was killed when struck by a car while trying to cross the Long Island Expressway. Soon after his brothers death Elektra Records dropped KMD and shelved the groups sophomore album Black Bastards, considering the cover art, which depicted a sambo caricature being hanged to be too controversial.
After the dissolution of KMD the hip hop scene did not hear from Zev Love X ever again, in a way the man who was Zev Love X had been killed. Abandoned by a greedy business that trivialized his relationship with the music he loved and showed great talent in Dumile spent the next few years going through hard times, not much is known about his life during this period. One can imagine the story being one of tragedy and self destruction going on as Dumile suffered the harrowing loss of his brother while living on the streets. One may make the claim that when Subroc died so did Zev Love X, the man who was once Zev Love X was taken over in these years by the villain MF DOOM.
Re-emerging in 1997 by performing at open mics and soon his own live performances was a strange masked figure by the name of MF DOOM, and thus the humble beginnings of the characters evil plan were set into motion. Two years later DOOM released his debut album, the classic Operation: Doomsday this release announced DOOM’s arrival to the hip hop scene and everyone that stood in his way had better quiver with fear.
The album, produced entirely by DOOM himself save for one track DJ Subroc produced before his death, displayed a higher degree of rapping than that found on KMD. This album is where DOOM’s stream of consciousness raps came to fruition, sparing listeners of the typical rap topics of the time in 1999 for more retrospective topics particularly focusing on the nature of hip hop and taking down whack MC’s everywhere. DOOM announced his presence and skill ten-fold on this album and to this day it remains one of his finest outings, though there were plenty more classics left to come.
Building his name in the underground for his theatrical nature and distinct voice and flow MF DOOM spent the early 2000s consistently releasing albums albeit under different aliases related to his character. He released Take Me To Your Leader in 2003 under the moniker King Geedorah, a character based on the three-headed dragon from the Godzilla series of movies. This character served as the great mind that controlled DOOM and utilized him to overtake Viktor Vaughn, a reference to Dr. Doom from the Fantastic Four whom Dumile fashioned himself after.
The whole narrative fit Dumile so well as he had been cast out by an industry, the music business, and sought a metaphorical revenge against them. These steady releases served to build the background of Dumile’s character and displayed his vast imagination and fans latched onto this because not many rappers had displayed such creativity along with the rhyming skills Dumile possessed. It wasn’t until DOOM received a call from a certain indie hip hop label however that his legacy would truly be cemented in hip hops hall of fame.
Any great project in hip hop is brought together by one unifying force: luck and it was certainly by luck that hip hop was given Madvillainy. MF DOOM and Madlib had never met until DOOM was given some of Madlib’s produced beats through a mutual friend while DOOM was in between labels. DOOM’s previous label Fondle ’Em had gone under and DOOM stayed quiet for a couple years. The tracks Madlib produced spurred Dumile’s interest in working with Madlib, after a harrowing debacle getting DOOM to sign to Peanut Butter Wolf’s Stones Throw label. The deal DOOM had agreed to was signed on a paper plate after the label had to beg and borrow to scrape together a measly $1,500 fee to sign him. Having already discussed the project with Madlib the two quickly got to working on their magnum opus: 2004’s Madvillainy.
While the album was released to relative obscurity, peaking only at number 179 on the Billboard 200 charts it received hefty praise from the public, even from mainstream publications. It was the perfect weapon of mass destruction for DOOM’s diabolical plan and it cemented Madlib as one of hip hops burgeoning underground producers.
The album sounds more idiosyncratic than any other hip hop album that came out in its time and it still sounds unlike anything we’ve heard since. Madlib’s obscure selection of jazz and soul samples interspersed with innumerable diverse sounds, there’s Indian music in there somewhere, the lack of hooks or even choruses in particular was sure to drive away even mainstream hip hop audiences. It’s a frantic affair as only one song clocks in above the 3-minute mark, the MC and producer spend each song getting their own ideas and concepts out without even taking a break before moving on to the next one. The contrast between the relaxed rapping, syrupy beats but short songs will render the listener deprived of air by the time the LP finishes. No two artists out there can steal your breath away like DOOM and Madlib did.
It’d be easy to make the case that Madlib knew the kind of MC he was working with, he knew that DOOM’s skills were truly at their peak when he was allowed to just spew his thoughts across the soundscape and he tweaked the album to cater to that.
DOOM’s lyricism on this album can really only be described by one word: indecipherable. DOOM’s heavy use of double entendres and alliteration is so tightly woven into his own personal narrative that to understand every meaning has taken over a decade to even reach the tip of the iceberg. It’s these lyrics that added to his already well established mysticism and his characterization, he crafted each rhyme as a scientist would approach an equation and despite the esoteric nature of the lyrics they have become indefinitely quotable lines in his repertoire. This album also allowed DOOM to perfect his vocal style in an unconventional way, in the early days of internet leaks this albums original masters were leaked onto the web and put the project on hold for a couple years before DOOM and Madlib returned to it. On these new recordings whereas DOOM had before delivered his raps in a more energetic tone he went back and utilized a deeper, more relaxed flow in his raps that later became his trademark style.
Madvillain’s legacy in hip hop cannot be overstated despite their sole outing, while living in its relative obscurity the album is celebrated by hip hop fans across the globe. It is the album that garnered DOOM the title of “your favorite rappers favorite rapper” because ask any mainstream hip hop artist about it and if they don’t know Madvillainy then they aren’t worth listening to.
There’s a video from years back that has been circulating around social media since DOOM’s passing of Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt and members of Odd Future meeting MF DOOM at a show. The fan boy in all of them is apparent, particularly in Tyler and Earl as they meet Dumile and watch him perform, it’s something any fan would do when meeting such a legendary rapper.
Since Madvillainy was released DOOM’s stature in hip hop was heightened through his solo releases and his collaborative works as both a producer and MC. In 2004, mere months after the release of Madvillainy, DOOM released Venomous Villain (VV: 2) under the Viktor Vaughn moniker and before the year was over he released another one of his most celebrated works Mm… Food. The album Mm… Food once again heavily features his use of double entendres albeit under a clearer expression as each song refers to food and tells a narrative related to that food item, one could also claim that it’s about DOOM comparing whack rappers to food and eating them. As a concept it’s one of DOOM’s finest and most focused efforts since Madvillainy and closed out the artists breakout year on a colossal note.
With each passing year DOOM’s legacy was increased by the ever growing interest in his collaboration with Madlib, his production work on collaborative albums, the deepening of his characters narrative, and his artistry. So many MC’s across the world have turned on to DOOM’s free associative lyricism, his stream of consciousness raps, his sample heavy beat style that serves as the perfect backdrop to his whacky yet calculated nature and his overall presentation. Before MF DOOM there were no characters who lived so devoted to the persona they had crafted and hid themselves behind that identity, there were plenty of characters in the game but none were as loyal to it as him. DOOM utilized his own personal sincerity while also managing to keep his personal life separate from rap, that’s why he wore the mask anytime he was seen, I don’t think anyone outside his closest friends even recognized his face without it.
Dumile passed away on Sunday October 31st, 2020, the day where everyone is known for wearing masks was the day rap lost its masked icon. His family kept the passing quiet for two months until his wife posted a message to his social media announcing Dumile’s passing. Like any passing of an artist with his level of influence there was general disbelief from fans, friends, collaborators and admirers.
A world without MF DOOM just doesn’t feel real, the character spoke as though he had been here for hundreds of years, he presented himself on such a level that made him seem like an undefeatable force. MF DOOM was all of these things and more. To carry on in the wake of his passing we simply must recognize that DOOM accomplished what he set out to do when he reappeared on the scene nearly 24 years ago, he made sure the rap game never forgot who he was and what they did to him.
Being a villain isn’t always a band thing in entertainment, people can love villains just as much as they love seeing the hero win and there’s many examples of this in entertainment. In many cases the villain can be more interesting than the hero. Rappers usually have been described as anti-heroes who set out to reveal the underlying truths about the government, the issues of the world and many other things that could make them seem villainous to a certain group of people. MF DOOM was no different in this case, he simply set out to ensure that hip hop, or even the music industry at large remembered him. I can say in confidence that DOOM created a villain so diabolical he will never be forgotten. Since his passing there’s been an outpouring of tributes from some major names in music, even Thom Yorke of Radiohead cited MF DOOM as his favorite rapper displaying how far not only DOOM’s influence extends but the extension hip hop has at large.
The most diabolical thing DOOM ever did was present his music to young aspiring minds, I myself was one of these minds. The havoc he wrought upon these people was irreparable but I don’t think any of them will complain about it. The music he presented to us listeners displays such a timelessness that only hip hop can convey with a love that rivals that of a father to his child. MF DOOM fathered many new MC’s who will carry on this music and put their own spin on the art form. Despite the loss of the corporeal MF DOOM, Viktor Vaughn, Daniel Dumile the spirit, the legend of the villain truly cannot be stripped from our minds and he as raps villain ensured that. Despite labeling himself a “villain” Dumile expressing himself and creating this music made for one of raps most heroic acts.
Daniel “MF DOOM” Dumile (January 9th, 1971 - October 31st, 2020)
